The one-act plays for young people contained in this volume can be
produced separately, or may be used as links in the chain of episodes
which go to make up outdoor or indoor pageants. There are full
directions for simple costumes, dances, and music. Each play deals with
the _youth_ of some American hero, so that the lad who plays George
Washington or Benjamin Franklin will be in touch with the emotions of a
patriot of his own years, instead of incongruously portraying an adult.
Much of the dialogue contains the actual words of Lincoln, Washington,
and Franklin, so that in learning their lines the youthful players may
grasp something of the hardihood and sagacity of Washington, the
perseverance of Franklin, and the honesty and dauntlessness of Lincoln,
and of those salient virtues that went to the up-building of America--a
heritage from the time "when all the land was young."

The plays are suitable for schools, summer camps, boys' clubs, historic
festivals, patriotic societies, and social settlements and playgrounds.
The outdoor plays are especially adapted for a "Safe and Sane Fourth."
All the plays have stood the test of production.

"The Pageant of Patriots"--the first children's patriotic pageant ever
given in America--was produced in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, N. Y., under
the auspices of Brooklyn's ten Social Settlements, May, 1911. The
Hawthorne Pageant was first produced on Arbor Day, May, 1911, by the
Wadleigh High School, New York City; Pocahontas was given as a separate
play at Franklin Park, Boston, by Lincoln House, and some of the other
plays have been given at various schools in New York City.

Thanks are due to _The Woman's Home Companion_, _The Delineator_, _The